Make Room For Jesus

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Have you ever been in a situation where you were going to have people come stay at your home for a while?

• Maybe you knew it was coming or maybe it was a surprise visit.

• Most of us are not ready for such guests. We are busy, we work, or we have things that keep us occupied so we stress about having the time to get things in order to have said company.

• Unless you have a big house making room for guests takes some work and some planning. The speed of life gets in the way.

• It was a tumultuous time; it was time for enrollment for the census. The Romans would call a census for two reasons, one for taxation purposes and secondly for compulsive military service. The Jews were exempt from the military service. This was a census for tax purposes.

• The Jews of Jesus day were looking for the Messiah, you would think they would be preparing themselves for His arrival, but for many it did not seem as that would be the case.

• Jesus was about to enter this tumultuous world and a time in which God deemed as the time!

• SLIDE #2

• Galatians 4:4 (HCSB) When the time came to completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

• The long-waited Messiah was about to come, would they make room for Him? Will we make room for Him?

• I want to turn to Luke 2:1-7 as a springboard for our message today.

• SLIDE #3

• Luke 2:1–7 (HCSB) 2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. 2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, 5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough—because there was no room for them at the lodging place.

• Let’s begin by noticing…

• SLIDE #4

SERMON

I. From the beginning people have struggled to make room for Jesus.

• Have you ever looked for something to only find that what you were looking for was right under your nose? TALK ABOUT SCREWDRIVER IN HAND.

• This was the situation before the birth of Jesus. The world that Jesus was born into was a very religious world.

• The Jewish people were longing for the day that their messiah would appear and help them break the bonds of Roman rule.

• World looked for Christ, the Messiah – He was to be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)

• He was to be a descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:3)

• He was to be of the house of David (Isaiah 11:1)

• He was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)

• The Jews had the Old Testament prophecies. There were many people who felt that the Messiah was about to come at any moment.

• There were 61 MAJOR and about 270 minor prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus during His lifetime.

• Bethlehem had no room for Jesus

 Because of the fact that all the Jews had to return to their place of birth, the cities were filled. No rooms in the inn – all places were filled.

 When the long awaited Messiah came there was no room for Him.

 He had to be born in a stable – barn – shed – laid in manger (feeding trough). This is not the way you would expect the Savior of the world to get His start.

• If got so bad for Jesus that a couple of years after His birth

• It is interesting that in this Jewish town, they did not have room for the savior that they were looking for.

• The people knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.

• In Matthew 2, Herod gathered the Scribes and Chief Priests together to determine where the Messiah was to born; they knew it would be Bethlehem.

• SLIDE #5

• Matthew 2:13 (HCSB) After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.”